Dial-a-Devotion -- January 16th

In the name of Jesus our Savior, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church welcomes you to ‘Dial-a-Devotion’, this is Vicar Tom Schlund.  Our text for today is Psalm 36:5-6, 10 which reads:

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O Lord. Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
    and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

Have you ever had the chance to travel and see mountains?  My family moved to Montana when I was in college and it is a beautiful state that is full of mountains.  I love the chances that I have to travel there and see the mountains and even to hike in them sometimes. 

Mountains are such majestic things.  They’re huge.  They usually spread across the horizon and often when I see them they’re covered in a beautiful white cap of snow.  It seems like the top of these mountains are up to the heavens. 

Why all this talk about mountains?  Our Psalmist today describes God’s love, faithfulness, and righteousness. He uses words to describe it that are related to mountains and the mountain top experience.  He says that God’s steadfast love extends to the heavens and that his faithfulness extends to the clouds.  God’s righteousness is described as being like a mountain. 

Think about that for a minute.  For something to be the size of a mountain or to reach to the sky it has to be really, really big! That’s the point.  God’s love, his faithfulness, and his righteousness are huge.  They’re bigger than us and last longer than we do.  We know that mountains will be there day after day and are immovable.  It is the same thing with God’s love and faithfulness and righteousness.  They’re huge and they last forever.  We can put our hope in them and trust that God will show forth that love and faithfulness to all of his children including you and me. 

The psalmist ends our reading today by imploring God to continue his steadfast love to those who know him.  God does show that love to his people each and every day.  His greatest demonstration of this love was sending his son into the world to die on the cross, rise from the grave and ascend to reign eternally.  This sacrifice shows us how high and wide and strong God’s love and faithfulness is toward us. 

So the next time you see a mountain, either in real life or in a picture, remember God’s great love and faithfulness toward you.  Remember that his love is strong and never fails.

Let us pray:

Dear Heavenly Father, Thanks for demonstrating your love for us through your son Jesus.  Help us to always remember how high and wide and strong your love and faithfulness is toward us.  Help us to share this love with everyone around us.  In Jesus’ name,  Amen